Hey, well first day over :) I managed to get here in one piece, (I know a few thought i wouldnt) lol. The flight was good it went really quickly and not as strict as I thought in customs, just walked staright through, first for me lol.

Beijing is brill, not what I expected really, quite westernized and the people are really friendly. First thing that hits you is the language barrier, noone speaks a word of English. which is hard when you are looking at a menu with loads of meanless symbols. lol. The food is great, had pork in blackbean which was lovely. Although noodles for breakfast is going to takes some getting used to lol. The smog is so bad here, not great for sightseeing, and if anyone walks more than 10 feet away, there are lost forever. lol

I met up with Gemma 2 hours after I got here, she dragged me on a five hour walk around Beijing, but i didnt mind as shes speaks mandrin so got to see loads of stuff I probably wouldnt have :)

I've went to the Heaven Temple which was great, very old style China. Had a looked round all the shops, its tempting to blow the whole budget here, they have loads of great stuff. Next we caught a ricksaw, which is three wheel bike which was funny as he took us round all the back streets. Needless to say my back is killing me, the road improvement system here is a little behind lol.

Ive got a new flatmate, hes a bit camp to say the least but seems like a good lad lol. We went to the bar last night to see what was around, got chatting to a couple of ozzies, we had a good laugh but theyve already checked out. :(

I've not meet the rest of my group yet, hoping it isnt full of old wrinkleys lol.

Well ill leave it at that now, off out to brave the streets of Bejing on my own lol, wish me luck lol

Rich